Deep Dive: Control Division Team
At Heaven Hill, our Sales team works with open and control market states. Control states are markets in which the government controls the sale of distilled spirits on the wholesale level – and retail in select markets.
Because the sales strategies we would deploy for control states are different from those for open states, we have created a single team dedicated only to our work with control states.
“Control states are unique in that we work directly with both state boards and broker partners,” said Jacob Sabel, Control Division Manager. “It’s a multi-faceted approach for brand listings, displays, schematics and executional strategy.”
The most significant difference between open and control market is that FOB pricing is fixed, based on a state’s formula to hit a suggested retail or wholesale price, said Sabel. Additionally, depending on the market, there are barriers to entry, contingent on hitting financial and volumetric thresholds for size extensions.
“In an open market, you can come guns a-blazing on a brand launch with all sizes – go out, get big – whereas, in control states in most markets, we lead with a single size until the brand proves itself via benchmarks for additional entries,” he said.
About Control States
In FY21 control state sales accounted for 5.2 million cases or 31% of both volume and net-net revenue (NNR) for the company. Sabel said control states represent an important ongoing opportunity for Heaven Hill, but it’s important for the team to be tactical in its approach to maximizing brand activities in every market.
Introducing the Control States Division
Under Jacob’s leadership, a team of six manages our relationships with control state boards and brokers.
Avery Sparrow, Control State Business Development Manager
Eric Medwed, RM, Michigan
Bill Jaeger, RM, Pacific Northwest – Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Montana and Wyoming
Nick Braud, RM, Gulf Markets – Alabama and Mississippi
Art Schomp, RM, Pennsylvania/New England – Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont
Tommy Athey, RM, Iowa, Ohio and West Virginia
“We are grateful for sales leadership and the Shapira family for bringing the Control Division under one roof in May 2020,” said Sabel. “This has created incredible synergies, best practices and cohesion that have enabled us to drive results. I am blessed to work with the most passionate team in the industry.”
Focus and Teamwork
For the Control State Division, the focus continues to be on building business the right way for the long term.
“We’re fortunate to work for a company that values long-term brand building, versus short-term wins,” said Jacob. “We use this philosophy to guide, not only our strategy, but our business acumen – no dog and pony shows, no check the box initiatives. We want real life, and we want to effect tangible change.”
One important area of focus for the division outside the processes with the states has been data-based decision making. In an open market, Jacob said, reps work on commission. In control markets, reps sell features and benefits and are financially rewarded through incentives, instead of commission dollars.
“To move our business forward, we’re hyper-focused on ‘fishing with the fish’ and quality over quantity deliverables,” said Jacob. “We’re blessed to have Diego Laserna from FP&A to drive analytics and research to support our strategy.”
Also important to the work of the Control State Division is its strong working relationship with Compliance Manager Marsha Holt, the Customer Service team – including Victoria Clark, Annette Cecil, Amy Bowman, Trisha Hoskins, Mario Deronsle and Rose Ann Hagan.
“Marsha’s dedication and commitment to filing and deadlines keeps us on track and top of our business,” said Jacob. “And Customer Service is the backbone of our operation and the silent heroes of our organization.”
Jacob also credits Marketing for their incredible work adapting to the Control landscape and trusting in new ways of working. “It’s a pleasure to work with Susan Wahl, Reid Hafer, Hannah Venhoff and their dream teams to develop specific initiatives tailored to Control,” he said.
Division Wins
The Control State Division has had several wins over the past year. Working collaboratively with the Southern Glazers Wine & Spirits Control Division, the team developed a process cadence last year that has been used as a best practice to create a new position within their organization to implement across their Control supplier network.
They are now also piloting a forecasting platform with SGWS that will allow the team to more effectively plan their business for the future.
“Brand listings is another thing we’re proud of,” said Jacob. “Over the course of the past year, we’ve listed close to 100 new SKUS. This will continue to build our foundation for future success.”
The division has also worked closely with Marketing to develop a Control State Playbook, which ideated brand concepts and platforms for planner markets in periods they didn’t have national marketing campaign assets.
And recently during Elijah Craig Old Fashioned Week, the division signed up 827 accounts with North Carolina; Virginia with Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) and Michigan with Great Lakes Wine and Spirits (GLWAS), leading efforts company-wide.
Looking ahead to the future, Jacob said our division will continue to stay aggressive, think outside the box, respectfully challenge its partners and, most importantly, act with integrity and do the right thing.
